Let Go, Live, But Always Remember
by harusunenthusiasticdancing
Summary: Zelda reflects on her memories of her life as Hylia while she sleeps in the crystal. Skyward Sword. ZeLink, HyLink? Rated for themes.


**Hey guys, major spoiler warnings. This story is about Hylia and her life, and her original hero. This was originally based off some few scans of the Skyward Sword manga that I found, but it kinda twisted and turned and here it is. Unfortunately, if you ask me for a link to the manga scans, I won't be able to give you one. The website had to take the scans down because the publisher of the manga asked them to. Also, major spoiler at the end of the fic with Link and Zel from the game. It doesn't go exactly as I write it (I added things here and there). If you're still here, enjoy!**

**I do not own the Legend of Zelda or the people/places in it! They belong to the big N, and quite frankly, I am happy about that.**

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She missed him.

She missed Link, the one she grew up with, but... she missed someone else more.

She missed her original hero, the one she knew from her days as Hylia. She missed him with all her heart and longed to see him again. But she knew it could never happen.

Hylia sent him with the other Hylians on the piece of land that was raised up into the sky, known later as Skyloft. He probably settled down with a beautiful girl, had children, lived a happy life. Yes, he lived a happy life. That's what she told herself. But she knew the only moments in his life that had made him truly happy were the ones spent with her.

He loved her.

Since the first time he had heard her voice echo in his chamber, she was told, he had loved her.

She loved him also. Though being of her position it was wrong for her to do so, she loved him with every bit of her soul.

He was the most dashing man she had seen. Icy blue eyes, bleach-blonde hair, a muscular body... His devotion to the land of Hylia was pure and deep. Courage and fierce determination shone in his eyes.

She had first shown herself to him while he was imprisoned. When he saw her, he didn't say a word. She spoke his name as soft as her tongue could talk. When her fingers came upon his cheek, she murmured a series of ancient spells, and his wounds vanished. Before he could ask anything, she faded away, as if she was a ghost.

Her first appearance while he was imprisoned was only followed by one more. She told him of the near future and of the destiny he was bound to fulfill. He bitterly laughed at the way he was being used as the gods' chosen hero, but accepted his fate, declaring, "I will defend Hylia at all costs." His devotion was clearly read through his declaration, and Hylia was charmed by it.

Their next meeting was not until he was freed. This time, she took on a physical form and mounted a crimson loftwing. It seemed as if he had forgotten her, as he didn't recognize her, but he also didn't show any signs of remembering her. She presented him with a sacred blade, the Master Sword, and told him of his fate once again. As if it was the same meeting as before, he bitterly laughed and accepted it.

After this meeting, his knights and he pursued the army of Demise, the Demon King who sought to overtake the land and it's sacred power. His knights were superb fighters, however Demise's forces were quite strong and out-numbered them greatly. He and his knights just barely stood a chance.

Hylia didn't abandon him, though. She would appear to him when he retreated, to encourage him and heal him. The goddess wasn't afraid to fight with them too. She often stood alongside the chosen one in battle. But that was only in dire times, when he was so much as injured that he could barely parry an attack.

One grave day, though, his knights were nearly wiped out by Demise's forces, and he escaped the battlefield half alive. He couldn't walk but instead crawled to a nearby fallen house. Though this house was destroyed, it was the most unscathed house in the village after the attack.

Hylia was by his side the moment he stopped at his destination in this butchered wasteland that used to be his home. Her hands covered his gravest wounds, disbelief flashing in her blue orbs. His chest rose slowly after each breath he somehow managed to choke out. Tears brimmed in the goddess's eyes, but she remained calm.

"Hylia," he murmured, "I fear my life in this world is coming to an end." Blood at the corners of his mouth, he coughed with a pained expression.

Hylia sat herself on the floor, her legs underneath her dainty body. She took the half-dead man into her arms and laid his head in her lap. Her hands stroked his thick hair, and she whispered ancient spells underneath her breath. Within seconds, his worst wounds were fully healed, but the many others were not. Hylia panted for breath, as using magic as strong as that took a lot out of her.

"Why did you aid me? The goddess should never be caught in a state of exaughst."

She stared wistfully at the stars in the night's sky. "The chosen hero's duties have not been fulfillled. I cannot leave him to die when he has come this far."

Her hero sighed, but didn't protest any further. He welcomed her hands stroking at his hair and slowly drifted to sleep, but jerked himself upright when he realized there were still some of his men fighting. Hylia screeched as she held him back and told him to calm down.

"I have to help them, they'll die alone out there if I don't!" he growled in vengence.

Hylia wouldn't allow this. "No, Link," she demanded, softly but firmly, "You need to rest. _You_ will die if you don't." She pushed him back into a laying postion, with his head on it's rightful place: her lap.

Still, Link argued. "I can't just leave them to fight alone!" he yelled at her, and surprisingly still she went back to stroking his hair.

"They will be alright," she spoke truthfully, "I swear it. Now, please... you need your rest..." Her voice was almost begging him, with concern heard all throughout.

With this, Link ceased his panic. He knew she was serious now, for she had sworn they were alright. She would never lie to him.

Link waited a few minutes before drifting into sleep again, savoring the moment with the goddess. He took one of her small hands into his rough gloved ones and pressed his lips to the back of it. "My Hylia... You've managed to save myself from death countless times. I am forever grateful to you." His fingers entertwined with hers, and he felt how cold she was. "You're cold. Take my cape for yourself," he ordered her, though not forcibly. When she hesitated, he added, "Please. It's the least I can do in return for all that you've done for me."

She removed her hand from his and took the cape from his shoulders, draping it over herself. She cared not that the garment was scattered with holes and dried blood. It kept her warm and her shivers that had unknowingly started ceased.

The hero felt fatigue overtaking him and finally closed his eyes to sleep. It was easy to submiss himself to his exhaust because of Hylia's slender fingers caressing his face. She lingered there for a while after he had fallen asleep. His sword was at her side in fear that some monsters would show, but they never did. As Hylia began to drift into a sleep of her own, she heard the footsteps of Link's men. She quickly pressed her lips to his head, and vanished in a pillar of light, knowing this would lead the men to the hero.

Hylia would think about this encounter with her hero quite often. Truth be told, it embarrassed her. She was so casual with him, and she then realized it was because she, the goddess, was falling for him. Yes, like in the fairy tales, she was falling for her hero. It shocked her, she had always thought she would never feel this strongly about something other than her land. Being the goddess, she could never love, for her heart was supposed to belong to the land. However, she didn't care for duty while she was with Link. Link was always formal with her, and she supposed it was better that way, for she feared that if he wasn't, she would disregard her duty.

But somehow... somehow, she could tell he was falling for her too.

When she would fight alongside him, he was always protecting her. The few times that she was actually hit, he'd kill the attacker in a fit of rage. He'd only let her fight with him if they were outnumbered. Link would comment on her skills and joke with her. Hylia was not usually one who enjoyed humor, but somehow he brought out a side of her who did. When she was injured to the point she couldn't even stand, he would scoop her up into his arms and find shelter so she could rest. He knew there was no point in trying to tend to her wounds, for she could do it herself.

After this encounter, though, things took a turn for the worse. Demise grew stronger much more rapidly than he was expected to, and Hylia was forced to face him on her own. However, she wanted her people to be safe, so she gathered them outside the temple dedicated to herself. They were told to stand in front of the statue of her, and she would raise this small mass of land skyward, where it would rest for eternity (or so she hoped).

However, Link stopped her.

"I'm not going to leave you," he said, and grabbed one of her wrists.

She jerked her wrist from his hands. "I need to finish this once and for all. Your duty here is done, hero, and you must go with the others to ensure their safety. I, however, need to stay here to kill the Demon King, for he will only continue to gain more strength," Hylia looked down to the ground, clenching her fists. "I will be needing the Master Sword."

Link still denied her staying here. "No, Hylia! You're coming with us, we can just leave this place! Look all around, it's a wasteland! What's the point in saving a land where all beings were killed? Just come with us!" His confusion in her actions was clear.

"Link, this is what I was made for. I am the goddess who watches over the land named after myself, and whether beings live here or not, it is my duty to watch over it. I cannot go with you, but know that I will watch over the land in the sky also." His borrowed determination shone in her eyes, and she pleaded, "Please, Link. Please go with the others, for me."

He hesitated for a moment but submissed himself to her wishes. Boldly, he took a step closer to her and gently put his hand on her waist. "Only for you, Hylia. But please, please know... though I am but a mortal, I've fallen for you and your beauty," he murmured, his eyes never leaving hers. Hylia took his hand from her waist into hers, and he continued, "My Hylia, I love you more than the land itself. If only you weren't a goddess, maybe then..."

She kissed his fingers and continued for him, "Maybe we would've had a chance at love." Tears fell as she temporarily forgot the world around them. "I'm sorry for the trouble I've caused you, Link. And, if I wasn't damned with this duty... I would be returning your love, and I want you to always know that." She kissed his cheek tenderly and quickly, but backed away after. Hylia once again asked for the Master Sword, and Link of course gave it to her, wishing her good luck in her battle with Demise.

Link returned to the other Hylians and looked on as Hylia pulled out a harp, as if from thin air. Her fingers danced on the strings of it, a slow ballad was heard. The mass of land slowly lifted into the sky, and Hylia watched it until it was so far that she couldn't see it.

Suddenly a loud roar from Demise sounded and she ran down to the crater she had just formed in the ground. The Demon King met her there, her back to him. As he rambled on about her 'worthless' efforts to protect her land, she only gripped the hilt of her sword.

It was because of him that her land had fallen, and he would pay, this she vowed to her people, land, and creators. He would never lay a hand on one of her people, nor cause any more destruction to her land again. He would die by the blade of her sword.

He abruptly stopped his rant and charged at her. Hylia ducked under his blade and slashed at him. Demise staggered back, quite surprised that she had even touched himself. She gave him a chance to gather himself again and regain his posture. Hylia raised her sword to the sky and charged a powerful skyward strike. When Demise came at her a second time, she striked him with her charged sword, knocking him down. She tried to deliver a final blow upon him, praying for the Triforce to kill him, but he rolled out of the way before she could. His attacks then contained more power and less aim. Demise slashed everywhere, and Hylia tried as best as she could to dodge them. However, it was impossible to remained unscathed, and she found herself getting cuts along her unprotected limbs.

Demise found her unprotected and slashed at her. Her sword flew out of her hands. She was knocked down onto the muddy ground, and saw her enemy kneel beside her. He took her chin into his huge, dark hands, and gave a somewhat sympathetic expression.

"Hylia, I don't need to murder you..." his low voice boomed. "If you just give me what I want, I'll-"

She punched his face with a powerful fist and rolled away from the Demon King. Her hand took up the hilt of the Master Sword, and she stood and faced her opponent again. He ran to her, obviously raging in intense anger, and slashed everywhere yet again. She got in a few slashes and stabs here and there, but couldn't seem to knock him down. Right as all hope had drained her, he left himself wide open. She took on this opportunity to slash here, there, everywhere, making him fall. Her sword quickly charged a skyward strike and she delivered a final blow to his abdomen.

This action lit up her land, and as the Demon King shattered into thousands of pieces, his voice rang out: "This is far from the end, and you are very aware of this, you damned goddess! I am very well alive, you have only sealed me. Believe my words, my servant will revive me in milennia to come! This is not over!" The shattered pieces were sucked into the ground and a small pillar appeared there. Hylia hit it with a skyward strike and forced it into the ground, where it acted as a lock to Demise's prison.

However, Hylia was not content with Demise's imprisonment. It meant that he would rise to power when the he has broken the seal, and she would have to fight him again.

She pondered this over in her head, and came up with solutions to this problem.

Days after her battle with Demise, she found herself discussing matters with the old gods. They approved of her ideas. Hylia would give up her immortality and be reincarnated, thousands of years later. She would lead a new hero to her in her realm, and he would kill Demise. But before she sacrificed her immortality, she would create a spirit for the Master Sword to guide the new hero. Yes, she had everything planned.

She created the robotic spirit sealed inside the Master Sword, the one she called Fi. The spirit herself resembled the blade. Hylia was proud of her work, and told Fi of the events that would take place in many years to come. She instructed her to stay in the blade until her time as the master's servant had come.

Before giving up her immortality, though, Hylia decided it was only right to visit Link one last time.

It was night when she appeared in his half finished house. He was asleep on a makeshift bed of cusions and blankets with no matress. "Sleepyhead," she muttered to herself, amused. She sat beside him and laid a hand on his cheek, her touch warm against his toned skin. He opened his eyes and gasped at the sight of the goddess.

"Hylia," he adressed her, simply. Jumping out from beneath blankets, he pulled her close to his unclothed chest. His fingers ran through her long hair, and his lips brushed against her forehead.

Hylia took his face into her fingers and softy said, "Before we do anything, Link, we must talk." Though, as if to tease him, she briefly kissed his lips.

"Of course."

She wiggled out of the embrace and sat again, taking his hand and entwining their fingers. "I cannot stay for even a few hours... And I'm sorry about that," she apologized and squeezed his hand. "I wasn't able to kill Demise... He was far too strong. Although, I was able to seal him in the grounds of the temple. But to prevent him from rising again..." she took a deep breath, "I'm going to sacrifice my immortality. In many years, I will be reincarnated and lead a new hero to the surface, and lead him to the past with the Gate of Time. He will wield the Master Sword. I've also created a spirit who presides in the sword, Fi. She will be his companion and aid him in his quest. Anyway, the hero will murder the Demon King... and finish this, once and for all."

Guilt showed upon his features. He felt that he had failed her. "What a hero I am," he muttered, clenching his fists, "I failed my mission as the chosen hero of the goddess. And you have to pay the consequences..."

"That's not it at all," Hylia stated, angry that he thought of it that way. "You did everything you could. In the end, though, it was always myself who would be fated to try to vanquish Demise. If anything, the fault is mine. I could not kill him, but only seal him. I was the one who failed." Her vision fell to the ground. "But it's going to be okay. I've made my mistakes, and I'm going to fix them... But before I do that..." She turned and took ahold of his face, pulling his lips to hers.

As quickly as she kissed him, Hylia broke it. "I want to spend as much as my remaining time as I can with you," she said, a small smile playing on her lips. She added, "You know... as long as it is okay with you..."

"My arms are always open to you, my fair goddess Hylia," he told her solemnly in response. His arms once again encased her against him.

She enjoyed his warm embrace. "There's just one more thing I ask of you," she requested. He sighed, knowing he would have to let her go from this hug again. Hylia giggled quietly, but went right back to being serious. "Promise me... promise me there will be a descendant of your blood when I come into this world again."

"What?" he exclaimed quietly, his brows furrowed.

"I know it's sounds absurd, your beloved asking you to profess your love to someone else, but Link... Though we never had a chance at love, my reincarnation will. So please, Link, I beg of you. Do everything in your power to make sure there will be a descendant with your blood when I walk this world again. Give them a chance at a true love as true as ours... And I'm sorry that our love can never be..." she brushed her tears away with the knuckles of her thumb.

Link understood now and took her cheek with his hand. His rough fingers wiped her tears and she took his hand on her cheek. "I... I will do as you say," he said, obedient and hesitant. "But you're the one being who will always possess my heart, Hylia. No matter how many women I meet or come in contact with, you'll always be the one who I've longed to love."

His lips met hers for another time, parting every few seconds. Hylia clung to his neck, her arms around him. Link held her close, squeezing her petite goddessly body.

The two parted, but still continued their embrace. "I love you," Link whispered into her golden lockes.

Hylia couldn't help but let a few tears slip at this. "As I you, Link, as I you..."

They sat there, content with each other's embrace, for a few minutes. Hylia breathed in his male-like scent. Link marveled at the beauty before himself. She was all his, if only for a few hours, but she was his to protect, and more importantly, his to love.

With a question on her mind, Hylia abruptly lifted her head. "If you were to name a girl, Link... What would your choice of names be?" Her eyes were big, doe-like.

"I would name her Zelda, after my mother," he said immediately, not doubting his answer at all.

"Zelda..." The name rolled off her tongue perfectly. "What a beautiful name! Simplistic, but elegant... Fit for a ruler. Fit for..." she paused for dramatic effect, "a goddess," she finished. The blue orbs that were her eyes had happiness written all over them.

Link laughed slightly at this. "What do you mean 'a goddess'?" His hands played with her bangs.

"I have to pick a name for myself when I come again," she explained. "I didn't want to be Hylia again, that would be redundant. But I didn't know what name to call myself, so..." she trailed off, looking down embarrassingly because of her excitement and fast-talking.

Link tilted her head up. "Gorgeous, dare I say even more than my mother was..." he paused, genuinely smiling. "That's what you are, Hy- I mean, Zelda. You're gorgeous." He kissed her cheek tenderly.

That was the last thing Zelda had remembered from her days as Hylia. She assumed the old gods didn't let her remember her last moments for her sake.

Zelda was forced to relive these memories again as she slept in her orange crystal for milennia; though, to her it would be more like a few hours. She knew that Link - the original - was looking down upon her from the heavens.

Her thoughts drifted back to her Link. The last time she had seen him... He was so broken. Broken because when he was finally reunited with the one he had shed so much blood for and gone through so much trouble for, she had to seal herself inside a huge rupee-like crystal to meet him in the present again. But wait, he couldn't just go back to the present and awaken her again, no, he had to go through even more trouble to complete the Song of the Hero so he could possess the Triforce. If Zelda could, she would be sobbing right now for his sake.

But now she had gotten to the end of her memories in her first life. Did this mean the rest of her deep sleep would be of nothing? Or would this be when she would awaken? The questions she had were answered when she heard the crystal crack, and her body gracefully was lifted out of it to the ground.

Her eyes shone brighter than the stars when she opened them. The first thing she saw was Link - her Link - amazed at her grace. She started to walk towards him, without saying a word, but soon she realized this was a bad idea. Her vision clouded and she momentarily lost consciousness. The next thing she knew, Link was cradling herself in his arms, dare she should think lovingly.

"Good morning... Sleepyhead..." she whispered pathetically. She tiredly yawned.

His deep voice laughed and he fought back tears of happiness. "Shouldn't I be the one saying that?" His battle with the tears was the only one he managed to lose on his long journey.

Zelda smiled as she felt the sun shine brightly upon them and looked up for a moment. She heard the old Link's voice in her head: 'I love you.' She took it that he was urging her to say it to this Link who was holding her.

Link slowly stood up, placing her on her feet. He took her hand, though, just in the case that she would faint again he would have her. He was surprised when Zelda threw her arms around him.

"I love you," she confessed to him, shyly but confidently.

Link stood, temporarily paralyzed. He wrapped his arms around her waist and choked out, "I've been wanting to tell you the same... ever since the Wing Ceremony..." He kissed her head several times. "I love you, Zelda. I really do."

As Zelda kissed him, she could not help but feel like she was betraying her past love. Zelda enjoyed the comfort of his arms around her, nevertheless, after their kiss. As she rested her head on his shoulder, in the distance she could make out a figure - a figure very similar to the one she clung at the moment.

The ghostly figure stared into her very soul, it's eyes containing mixed feelings: jealousy, happiness, sadness, love. Zelda could just barely hear a voice. It said, "Let go of the past, live for the future... Always remember the ones you have loved..."

Zelda didn't cry when she witnessed the figure fading away. She was letting go of him, focusing on her new Link... but never forgetting the old one.

**0oO0oO0oO**

**So yeah, here it is. Did you like it? I would love if you would leave me a review. I've been feeling a bit unapprieciated lately, and that would put me in high spirits.**

**Oh, and also, I totally forgot about Impa. Oops. I'm too lazy to change it though XD**


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